By Bill Holstein
A nominating committee has chosen a list of candidates for this year’s election. I chaired the committee, which also included club President Deidre Depke, and governors Liam Stack, Abigail Pesta and Roxana Saberi. We strove to create a balanced, mixed slate with younger journalists as well as those who have enjoyed distinguished careers. We offer a geographic balance with candidates based in Washington, Miami, Paris and Kabul. Different forms of media – radio, TV, news agency, photography, print and online – are represented. We believe this slate will help the board to continue to provide strong leadership for many years to come and help keep the OPC relevant in a rapidly changing media environment.
The OPC is electing ten governors who are Active members and two who are Associate members.
The club is continuing to use the online voting website Balloteer.com to host its secure election. You will receive an e-mail in early August with a link to the election at the e-mail address where you receive OPC electronic correspondence. If you have not received this link by the end of August please e-mail
patricia@opcofamerica. org to obtain the link. The deadline for voting is Aug. 31. The results will be announced at the Annual Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 5. This year the OPC will host a party at the Annual Meeting with free drinks and refreshments. Mark your calendar!
Each ballot requires a log-in, which is your e-mail address where you received the ballot link. The system allows one voting ballot and delineates between Active and Associate members. For those averse to the Web, fear not: you may still cast a paper ballot by e-mailing Patricia@ opcofamerica.org or calling the OPC office at 212-626-9220.
2017 ELECTION SLATE
ACTIVE NOMINEES (Electing 10)
DAVID ARIOSTO
PAULA E. DWYER
As a Bloomberg News editor and veteran of print and digital media, I believe I’m well-suited to represent the interests of working journalists everywhere. I’m now an editor for QuickTakes, Bloomberg’s explanatory journalism project, where I work with numerous young reporters, many of whom are overseas and all of whom have an interest in maintaining press freedoms and learning the latest tools of the trade. Previously I was a columnist and editorial writer at Bloomberg View, where I was a Pulitzer finalist for editorials on Europe’s debt crisis. I spent five years at The New York Times and 20 years at Businessweek magazine, serving in the 1990s as BW’s London bureau chief, where I shared an OPC award for coverage of globalization. I am also co-author, with Arthur Levitt, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, of Take On the Street, a New York Times bestseller about the culture of Wall Street.
LINDA FASULO
It is an honor to run for the board of the OPC, an organization that plays such an important role in supporting international news reporting. I served on the board more than a decade ago and am excited about the possibility of doing so for a second time.
I am a journalist and author specializing in the United Nations and U.S. foreign policy. Based at the UN, I am a longtime independent correspondent for NPR News.
Other professional experience includes working as UN producer and correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC for a decade and as special UN correspondent for US News & World Report for 7 years. My book, An Insider’s Guide to the UN, published by Yale University Press, is now in its third edition. I serve on the Executive Committee of the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA). I recently served as an OPC Awards judge and organized a program last fall on the UN in the world today. I am very interested in continuing these activities and participating in the press freedom committee.
JOSH FINE
I’m a senior segment producer for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” Recently I led our show’s reporting team for “The Lords of the Rings,” which won the OPC’s inaugural Peter Jennings Award. It was my second OPC award. My international sports investigations have also won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, an Emmy, and were part of Real Sports’ Peabody Award for television excellence and meritorious public service. Before HBO I was an associate producer for CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and an off-air reporter for the ABC News Investigative Unit. As a governor, I hope to contribute to the planning of events, especially ones that further journalists’ understanding of the dynamics at play in various regions around the world (hearing from Chinese dissidents, Russian reporters, etc).
DAVID FURST
I am the International Picture Editor of The New York Times. Following nearly a decade as a photojournalist documenting conflicts in the Middle East, I switched gears and became an editor. Since joining the Times in 2010, I have coordinated the newspaper’s enhanced international emphasis on photography that has won numerous awards including all three of the OPC’s photo awards bestowed at this year’s annual awards dinner; the Pulitzer Prize for photography four years in a row; the World Press Photo of the Year; and four George Polk Awards. In 2016, I was nominated for an Emmy award, and was named visual editor of the year by both the Lucie Foundation and Pictures of the Year International.
ANJALI KAMAT
I’m an independent journalist and have spent the past year reporting from South Asia with the Investigative Fund and writing a book on migrant labor in the Middle East for Verso Books. This year I wrote about shrinking press freedoms in India for the OPC’s Dateline magazine. I grew up in India, studied Arabic, and have reported from the Middle East and South Asia for over a decade for Al Jazeera, Democracy Now!, Slate and other outlets. My work has won a Peabody, four Emmy nominations, an OPC award and an RFK award. As an OPC governor, I would like to work on increasing the diversity of American foreign correspondents and highlight and support the significant reporting contributions of international journalists who work as fixers.
AZMAT KHAN
I’m an investigative reporter and Future of War Fellow at New America. On the OPC board, I intend to work to expand the services the OPC offers its members, particularly protections while reporting internationally. As a journalist who’s reported abroad both on staff and as a freelancer, and who’s served two previous terms, I understand the dual needs of our members and how to forge partnerships that will allow the OPC to grow. Through affiliations with CUNY Journalism School’s International Reporting Program, the Carey Institute for Global Good, and other key organizations, I’ll also work diligently to recruit a wider member base.
ROD NORDLAND
I’ve been an OPC member since 1985, when I worked at Newsweek, where I was chief foreign correspondent. I am now international correspondent at large (as well as Kabul bureau chief) at The New York Times. I’ve worked as a foreign correspondent in more than 150 countries, and covered most of the major conflicts and crises of the last three decades, and I continue to do so.
I haven’t considered running for the OPC board previously because I am not in the States frequently enough to attend board meetings in person. But nowadays, given the capabilities of video conferencing platforms, even from difficult places like Afghanistan or Iraq, I can commit to attending meetings, at least virtually, and provide the perspective of a working American journalist whose entire career activity remains overseas, often in some of the world’s most difficult places.
MARY RAJKUMAR
I’m the International Enterprise editor for The Associated Press, where I have worked for 10 years. My team won the Pulitzer gold medal for Public Service in 2016 for a project on labor abuse in Southeast Asia, which led to the rescue of more than 500 enslaved fishermen. I also edited a project on how Venezuela is falling apart that won the top award from the OPC this year, the Hal Boyle. I am from Singapore, and currently live in Miami.
I had the honor the past two years of being an OPC governor. I believe the OPC has a critical role to play in fighting for press freedom worldwide and in helping international journalists to do their often dangerous work. I am passionate about diversity, and would like to see the OPC continue to promote it within both the organization and the industry.
VIVIENNE WALT
I am a correspondent for TIME and FORTUNE magazines based in Paris, and have served on the OPC board since 2015. I have been a vocal advocate for the OPC among correspondents abroad, and organized programs with visiting American journalists in Paris. For my second term on the board, I want to ramp up the effort to involve journalists based overseas in the OPC.
I have traveled widely around Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I began writing for TIME during the Iraq War, and have since reported on multiple conflicts. My work has also been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, and elsewhere. I am a regular guest on TV and radio in the US, and have also served as head judge for several OPC awards.
ASSOCIATE (Electing 2)
BRIAN BYRD
I am running for the board because we are living in a time in which journalists have been declared public enemies, are purveyors of fake news, and have been targets for attacks. In no other time in recent history have journalists undergone an onslaught of this magnitude. Since joining OPC, I have been extremely active as a member by working on special events, enlisting new members, and panel discussions. My goal as a returning board member will be to continue to build the momentum OPC has gained in serving as the standard bearer in serving as a resource for journalists. Now, more than ever, journalism needs OPC to ensure the well-being of our members and other journalists.
MINKY WORDEN
I have been involved with the OPC for nearly two decades, serving on the board, on the Freedom of the Press Committee, and organizing and moderating events. One focus has been building membership, including hosting the periodic “Tchotchke Night” party, a foreign correspondent “show-and-tell” and member-recruiting evening. I also serve on the OPC Foundation board. I am director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, where I have worked since 1998. I previously lived and worked in Hong Kong as an adviser to pro-democracy leader Martin Lee, and at the U.S. Department of Justice. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, I speak Cantonese and German. I have written and edited three books, and have three sons.